Ever wanted to know exactly how old you are. To the second. Well now you can.
You can also track the global population, to the minute energy and food consumption and a bunch of other stuff you probably didn’t need to know – here.
Found thanks to bookofjoe.
I haven’t done 61 other posts in a series on reasons to work at Lego. But I reckon I could. Easily. I think parking would be easy. Everything there would be so ordered, and easy to fit together. Office construction problems would be a thing of the past. I could go on. But I won’t.
Lego is cool. And if you work there – this is what your business card looks like, unless you’re a guy. Then it would be a male minifig:
Did you know that HMV, the music shop, is so named for the famous picture of a dog and gramophone featured on the record above. It’s called “His Master’s Voice”.
This could easily be a post about guidance and the “voice of God”. Based on the title, anyway. But it’s not. It’s about my job.
My CEO is leaving soon. She’s been here for five years. I’ve been here for three. In that time I’ve learned her “voice” to the point that I can write quotes for her without them being chopped and changed. I used to get a fair bit of red pen scribble on my draft releases. Now I get none. Or not much. If I do it’s because I’ve been too heavy handed in my haranguing of politicians.
We’ll no doubt have a new CEO soon. This presents a problem. A new CEO means having to master a new voice. And more red pen. I hate red pen. I feel a bit like the dog in that painting – who was apparently listening to his dead master’s voice on the gramophone.
The reason I write this now – is that I’ve just written a media release with some quotes from a former manager at Townsville Enterprise – whose voice I used to write also. And she said “that’s just the way I would have said it”. Which is nice. It seems once you’ve learned a voice it’s like learning to ride a bike.
Incidentally – I use blogging as much to develop my written voice as I do to procrastinate. It’s useful. Particularly for one so accustomed to the weasel words of corporate media speak.
Do you have a “voice”, written or otherwise?
I’m not sure how to define “voice” – it’s about style, choice of words, length of sentences, nuance, emphasis, syntax, and phraseology. Some of those things are the same. Others are different. There are certain words, particularly adjectives, that often pop up when I’m writing for particular people.
I was wondering how much someone who spends as much time as I do reading about coffee could learn from a three and a half hour coffee school. The answer – not much, and a lot.
We took the three hour course at Coffee Dominion. It’s $75 and basically includes all you can drink coffee and three hours of hands on training.
The thing about coffee is that there’s an incredible amount of diversity in thinking and practice that it’s hard to nail down any one particular theory.
For example – many people argue that tamping (the compacting of coffee in the filter basket) is not only essential – but must be done with 10kg of pressure. Other people argue that as long as the distribution and dosing of the coffee in the basket is even, tamping is irrelevant.
What really matters when it comes to making a coffee is consistency of method. That was hammered home tonight. As long as your dosing is consistent – that is the same amount of coffee in the basket, prepared the same way, and your tamping is consistent – the only variable is the grind. The grind will vary based on humidity and variables like type of bean, depth of roast and time since roasting. If your method is the same this is the only change you’ll need to make.
I disagreed with a little bit at the start, we had a sit down session where we were told that single origin coffee is no good for espresso. I like single origin espresso. That is one type of bean from one place. The argument is that espresso requires a dark roast, that diminishes the flavour profile from the bean – so to keep espresso interesting you need to mix a broader variety of flavours. I disagreed. I don’t mind espresso made from a light roasted bean. But that’s less than relevant in the broader scheme of things.
The “cupping” was interesting. Cupping is the primary method bean buyers use when determining what beans to order. It’s basically hot water poured over ground coffee. It’s that simple. No plunge, no brewing, no steeping. It’s just coffee and hot water. The coffee forms a crust. You break the crust that it forms and sip the coffee. Then you figure out the flavour profile – it’s similar to wine tasting really.
Milk frothing was interesting too – I struggle to get the texture right. The goal is to make “silk from milk” and to avoid big bubbles.
We also got to look around Coffee Dominion – where all the behind the scenes magic happens. Including a little excursion into the roasting room. I’ll put pictures up shortly.
It was a good learning experience – and worth doing. We’ve even got certificates to show for it.
Robyn, Chris, and I are going to coffee school tonight at Coffee Dominion. Should be fun. It’s pretty much all you can drink coffee – and we are learning about the following:
I’m taking the camera and will no doubt give you all a run down tomorrow. I’m pretty excited.
Like Joel, I’m not a morning person. I hate mornings. I hate waking up. I hit snooze three times before I do. I get to work later than my colleagues – some of whom are here before I even wake up. I can’t start the day without a coffee – but that’s the same if I get up after 10am.
The Geek Dad blog at wired.com has a great ten tips for people who struggle to get up in the morning. One of which is to put your alarm over the other side of the room so you get up when it goes off. I’m all for that – especially if it means I take into account the 20 minutes of “snooze” I have every morning and set my alarm later. Here’s why:
“The thing is, snoozing sucks. It’s low-quality sleep that doesn’t leave you feeling restful in any way. My groggy brain is not rational enough in the a.m. to understand this. So there is no alarm on my bedside table.”
Sister number two thought she was really clever when she first discovered vectors. “Everything is vectors” she said. And she would find ways to express everything in vector terminology. At least that’s how I remember that annoying phase of her life.
Here is a website that goes one better. Envisaging life and philosophical concepts in the form of mathematical equations.
So in this case the equation would be:
morenewmaths = sister number 2 + vectors + 1.
Like these.
If you happen to visit my site today you’ll notice I’ve finally added a “blogroll” a list of links to blogs I read. Starting with “personal blogs” from people I know in real life, or whose personal blogs I subscribe to.
Next up will be a list of links to useful sites and blogs I read. Exciting stuff. If you didn’t make the list and think you should – let me know.
The list is not ordered by anything in particular – I just added them as fast as I opened them from Google Reader.
My Star Wars Auctions on eBay finish up today – actually there’s one item that seems to have slipped through the posting cracks – two if you include the Boba Fett that I haven’t listed for Tim’s benefit.
The good news is that I’ve hit the break even point on the auctions and will actually make a profit. That’s bound to keep Robyn happy.
Feel free to jack up the prices with some last minute bidding action. You may score yourself a bargain. Darth Vader and R2-D2 are due to finish in just over two hours.
“I had two women police officers come around who looked like cabaret artistes – all fishnet stockings and deep cleavage – and they did not exactly engender confidence.”
Answer: Australia’s celebrated feminist Germaine Greer after her home was broken into. Talk about undermining equality in the workplace.
A while back I posted a link to a macabre series of toys. I just found the source of said toys and there are some beauties. I wish they were either for sale of came with knitting patterns – but for now enjoy.
More Micallef – slight language warning – but this is a timeless monologue from 2001.
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
A long time ago – in 2006 in fact – I contemplated making icecream reviews a regular feature on this blog. The idea never had legs. I never really found a worthy icecream contender.
Turkish Delight Cadbury icecreams were good. They would have scored a mention had the feature continued. As would the Drumstick Sundae line. Other than that there aren’t any particularly regular icecreams featured on the Campbell itinerary.
Until now. Weis Coffee Almond and Cream bars. Mmm. Fantastic. The. Best. Weis. Bar. Ever. And that’s a big call – the mango Weis bars are pretty spectacular. But these were great. Robyn gave them the thumbs up. They’re now on the menu. If you like coffee they should be on yours too. They’re no doubt as good as these things.
I was really struggling to find a video for my YouTube Tuesday post. Until I typed “Micallef” into the search box in a moment of inspiration.
I really want to get the DVDs from this Channel 9 series (I have the DVDs from his ABC and Full Frontal stuff if anyone wants to borrow them)… I remember this joke he did with the Dandy Warhols that would totally lose something being retold here – so I won’t. Instead, I give you, Micallef on his high horse…
